This invention lies in the field of disposal of sewage from communities and is directed to a system, apparatus, and method which dispose of the sewage efficiently and without creating a nuisance while salvaging all of the beneficial components of the sewage for practical purposes and at the same time eliminating the cost and complication of elaborate sewage treatment plants and procedures.
The disposal of sewage has always been a problem, the magnitude of which varies with population density. Open pit dumping has been followed by septic tanks, dumping in streams, rivers, and oceans, and partial treatment and complete treatment usually followed by dumping in streams, etc., although in some cases the reconstituted water has been used for irrigation purposes.
The older systems polluted the ground, water, and air and were inadequate at best while the new systems reduced or eliminated pollution from sewage but called for large and elaborate treatment plants which are very expensive to build and operate. It is well known that the problem has become critical in all but the most sparsely populated areas. While bulk can be greatly reduced by storing liquid sewage in open pits until the water has evaporated, the odors emanating from such pits are disgreeable and they pose a serious health hazard. Moreover, the solids must still be buried in trenches by one of the many known "sanitary" land fill methods.